PAMELA NEWENHAM

Clare-based software firm Magico is to double its workforce to 24 in Ennis, as part of a €500,000 research and development project involving Big Data analytics.

The company is to develop a Big Data analytics system for retailers and e-commerce companies to help them better manage, understand and measure all activity relating to their websites.

"At present the majority of e-commerce sites sit on top of Google Analytics. It lets retailers know information such as the most popular pages on their website and where most people exit the site," Magico managing director Paul Montwill said.

“However, there is a lot of data to analyse. We want to automate the extraction and analysis of that data for retailers on a daily basis,” he added.

Mr Montwill said Magico is creating a system called DARE (Data, Analysis, Recommendations and Execution of recommendations) which will pull specific data out of Google Analytics for retailers, and make recommendations based on that data.

“Companies often fall down when it comes to executing recommendations so we want to automate the process,” he added.

He said Magico was also hoping to bring an element of analytics in-store for retailers.

“Google Analytics is releasing a new version this year called Universal Analytics. We want to take that and implement it in-store, in bricks and mortar shops. It will record all purchases online and offline to give shops a better overall view.”

Mr Montwill said the company has already began recruiting developers and will recruit sales and support staff after Christmas.

He said €500,000 is being invested in the development of the new analytics system, supported with R&D funding from Enterprise Ireland.

Established in 2000, the company already has major Irish retailers and brands among its clients, which include McGuirks Golf, Conn’s Cameras, Petworld Direct and Trailblazers. It currently employs 12 staff in software development and analytics.